In the meantime, Jack, Fred and Randy hurried in the direction of the railroad station to get the six suitcases and the guns which had been left there. They found the crowd had thinned out somewhat, although quite a few people were still present.
It did not take the three lads long to find the six suitcases, and, armed with two each and with all the guns, they trudged back to where they had left the boxsled. Then the suitcases were piled up and tied fast to the upright boards and to the boxsled itself, so that they might not be jounced off. The guns were placed in the bottom alongside the boxes.
"Now then, pile in, and we"ll be getting to the Lodge," cried Gif. "I can tell you fellows I am mighty anxious to see the old place, to see if it looks like it did when I was here last."
The youths were just stowing themselves away on the sled when there came a cry from out of the darkness, and three fellows came hurrying through the snow from the direction of the railroad station.
"Hi, there! Stop!" called out the foremost of the trio. "Stop, I tell you!"
"Why, it"s Gabe Werner!" exclaimed Randy. "What can he want of us?"
In a moment more the big bully was beside the sled, and Glutts and Codfish followed him.
"Thought you were mighty smart, eh?" cried Gabe Werner angrily. "Another minute, and I suppose you would have been gone!"
"What do you want, Werner?" demanded Jack.
"What are you fellows doing in this neighborhood?" questioned Fred.
"What we are doing here is our business," answered Werner sourly. "What I want of you is my suitcase."
"Your suitcase?" queried several of the others.
"Yes, my suitcase! Oh, you needn"t play the innocent! I know you"ve got my suitcase somewhere on this boxsled. But you"re not going to get away with it. Hand it over, or I"ll call a policeman."
Gabe Werner was very much in earnest, and his face was red with anger and resentment. He reached up and caught hold of the lines which Gif held in his hands.
"Drop those lines, Werner!" cried Gif quickly. "Drop them, I say!"
"I want my suitcase! You had no business to touch it!"
"I don"t know anything about your suitcase," declared Gif. He turned to the others. "We haven"t anything but our own bags, have we?"
"I don"t think we have," declared Jack.
"I know better!" grumbled Werner.
"I"ll bet they"ve got it and are hiding it away," declared Bill Glutts.
"They took a whole lot of bags away just as we were coming up. The baggage master saw "em."
"I"m glad they didn"t get my bag!" cried Codfish, who was lugging a good-sized Gladstone.
"If we took your bag it must have been by mistake," said Randy. "I looked at the markings pretty carefully though."
"So did I," said Fred.
"Well, we"ll make sure," remarked Jack, and brought out a flashlight which he had taken from his own suitcase for possible use on the road.
He flashed the light in the direction of the six suitcases, and he and his chums looked over all of the markings with care.
"How is your bag marked?" questioned Gif.
"G. A. W.," answered Werner.
"Well, you can see for yourself that there is no such marking on any of these bags," declared Jack. "There is my own. These two belong to Andy and Randy. This is Fred"s, and here is Gif"s and that one is Spouter"s."
"Maybe they"ve got it hidden under the blankets, or something like that," suggested Glutts.
"There are no other suitcases in this boxsled," declared Gif flatly.
"We"ll take a look and make sure."
"You"ll do nothing of the sort, Gabe Werner!" and now, with flashing eyes, Gif raised his whip as if to bring it down over the bully"s head.
"Hold on, Gif! Don"t do anything like that," advised Jack. "Let them look around the sled if they want to. Then they will know we"re telling the truth. If we go off without giving them a chance to look, they may complain to the authorities here and make a lot of trouble for us."
"All right, then, go ahead and look," answered Gif, leaping from the boxsled. "But don"t you harm any of our things, or you"ll hear from me."
Jack flashed the light into the sled, and Werner and Glutts made an examination of the contents. Of course, they found no other baggage, and so drew back in disgust.
"I don"t understand it," said Werner lamely. "I left that bag there in the station master"s care while I and the others went to get something to eat. Now my bag is gone."
"Well, that is none of our affair," answered Jack. "Come on, fellows, it"s getting late. Let"s be on the way."
"I"ll get that bag back, or I"ll make the station master pay for it,"
grumbled Gabe Werner, and then he and his cronies turned on their heels and walked back in the direction of the railroad station.
"Gee! somebody must have walked off with his bag while he was eating,"
remarked Fred. "Rather tough luck if he had anything of real value in it."
"Serves him right--for being so cross and cranky," was Andy"s comment.
But the bag had not been stolen. It had been simply misplaced, as was afterwards proven.
Once more the boys adjusted themselves on the boxsled, and then Gif took up the reins and spoke to the team. Off they started at a walk, but soon broke into a slow trot as the sled began to go down a long slope leading in the direction of Cedar Lodge.
The way was little more than a woods road, winding in and out among the trees. They had to mount several small hills, and on these the horses settled down to a very slow walk.
"I guess Jed Wallop was right about Mary and John not running away,"
came from Randy. "I don"t think anything short of an earthquake could start "em into a gallop."
"They are lumber-camp horses, used to drawing pretty heavy loads,"
explained Gif. "They may not be very much on speed, but on the other hand you can depend on their pulling us out of any tight hole where fancy horses might get stuck."
CHAPTER XII
AT THE FROZEN-UP SPRING